Rancor

1

I bang on the steering wheel harder, as if the harder I hit, the faster the light will turn green.

"Oh my god, are we gonna wait 'til Christmas?"

There's no one around. I'm the only one on the road at 9pm so there's literally no reason for the light to not turn.

I glance at the passenger seat. It's holding my most prized possession at the moment: my pizza. That's getting colder by the second. My stomach growls in anticipation of the taste.
Finally, the light turns, and I floor it.

It feels like forever before I get home, even though it's only a few minutes.
As I pull into the driveway, I breathe a sigh of relief, knowing my pizza is finally safe.

I jump out, grab my baby, and slam the car door. I run into the house as quickly and carefully as I can. The lights are all off, a signal that I'm gonna be alone this weekend. I toss the pizza on the coffee table and switch the tv on, propping my feet up next to the pizza.

Before I can even change the channel from NBC, the door bell rings, followed by some rough knocking. As I get up, a million scenarios wash through my mind from winning some sort of lottery to dad's plane crashing.

I pull the door open. It's some man in a gray hoodie, blue baseball cap, and sweatpants. He sounds winded but not just from jogging.

"Um, yes?"

"You the owner of this residence?"

"No, but my dad is." I stop myself before I mention him being gone because I still don't know who this guy is. I look towards the vase in the corner, the one that holds a fireplace poker in case this guy thinks about doing something stupid.

"Well, when your father gets home, give him this." He hands me an unmarked envelope. He obviously knew dad lives here, so why didn't he ask for dad by name?

"Make sure he's the only person who gets this please."

"Uh, Yeah. Ok. Would you mind telling me wh-"

His phone goes off and he stops me.

"Keep it safe!" He yells as he jogs down the yard to his beat up, silver sedan.

I wait until he gets into his car and drives away before I close the door, making sure the lock clicks. I check the back door and garage doors as well.

When I finally sit down to eat, I can't seem to relax. Being the nosy person I am, it's taking everything in me not to open the envelope. I stare at it for a while, the tv unchanged and droning on about something in San Diego in the background. Finally, I grab it.

And set it down in dad's bedroom. If it's out of sight, it's out of mind.

Finally, I can relax.